


Coincidental Circumstances In Our Favor

by argumentativeArtisan



Category: Hiveswap, Homestuck
Genre: AU, F/F, F/M, Hemophobia, Homophobia, I got bored whoops, M/M, Other, Trolls on Earth, death of a parental figure definitly, it was a cool idea fight me, oh uh racism, probably self hatred in here eventually, the graphic depictions things is just what you'd expect from canon, this has unhelmed psiionics in it and uh mental trauma is a big thing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-23
Updated: 2020-05-07
Packaged: 2020-07-11 21:58:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 15,738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19935154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/argumentativeArtisan/pseuds/argumentativeArtisan
Summary: Jana Ellery's botany club at her college receives a unique opportunity to send one of their members to alternia now that the two planets are working together.They do a random generator pick and Jana wins the trip. She is thoroughly excited by this, but has no idea how her life will change when she returns.A few perigees after Faelia Malore's ascension, the new empress comes to power, and frees the jades from their previous confines within the caverns. She travels to earth to start a new life and finally stop hiding her mutation, but on her way back to alternia to retrieve her moirail, she meets a human woman who might just change her life for the better.





	1. Above and Beyond

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Ascension For a Mutant](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11356503) by [planetundersiege](https://archiveofourown.org/users/planetundersiege/pseuds/planetundersiege). 



> This was inspired and written for planetundersiege 's series, The Earth/Alternia Cooperation. I don't usually like or even read fics mainly about people's OCs but I really enjoyed My Son is A Rustblood. You don't need to have read anything in the series but I would recommend reading Ascension for a Mutant, it establishes how Feferi won her duel with the Condesce from Karkat's POV. I really wanted to add on to this AU so I'm yeeting a few of my own characters at it.

Your name is **JANA ELLERY** . You are **NINETEEN YEARS OLD** and you live in your grandmother's old house, with your dog, Doofus. 

You have an **ASSHOLE CAT** and a bunch of odd roommates who attend the same college as you. 

You also have a variety of interests. 

When you aren't **GARDENING,** you love to indulge in your love of **ASTRONOMICAL EVENTS.**

You love talking your high school bff who's going to college far away from home on **PESTERCHUM,** where you have the username **candidLacuna **

You're a Gemini, but you were born a month premature, so TECHNICALLY you were supposed to be a Cancer.

As of right now? You are THRILLED. Last month, your botany club in college received a very special opportunity. One of you would get to go on an expense free trip to Alternia. 

The grey aliens had been working with humans for almost a full two years at this point, but due to heavy concerns about the potential ecological impact, human scientists have scarcely been able to get a look at Alternian flora. But there _is_ a work around, a loophole that says specifically any _scientist_ may not bring live flora back from Alternia or any other foreign planet. College students without degrees and/or doctorates do not count, and if chosen from high performing horticulture and botany clubs from across the US, they’ll be genuinely interested in getting good, quality samples. More than a few big names were trying to grab college kids to shoot off into space for those samples.

So basically one of your club mates was going to be an alien plant version of a drug mule, but without being explicitly illegal. You were absolutely determined for this to be you. You _love_ space, it’s been your dream since forever, if you had the grades and physical endurance to be an astronaut you would have done that, but you settled for your secondary hobby of gardening. However, this trip opened up your possibility of going to space once more, you were already saving to just buy a ticket yourself but this was _perfect_. You wanted to go so badly that you were absolutely going to cheat. Well, cheat being a subjective term. 

You are lucky. Lucky in a way most people cannot fathom. Almost no one believes you. Your best friend, Geni, is one of two people that actually trusts you on this, the other being your twin, Jack, he only believes you because he’s the same way. Ever since you two were little, all it really took for fate to be in your favor was a little wishing, a little push. It was hard to explain, but the example you used to convince Geni was pretty simple. When you two were 15, you asked your mom to buy you a lotto ticket, you told Geni it would be a winner, you’d get 20 bucks, you told her this ten times, until you half drove her nuts with anticipation. Sure enough, you scratched it off and won that 20. 

You do your best to not manipulate luck like that, the only time recently you even thought of doing so was when Geni was having a hard time getting into a good college, but she declined your help.

Now, however, you really _really_ want to go on that trip, and you hope to whatever fickle god is out there that you don’t piss off fate too badly by turning fortune’s eye on yourself yet again. 

You wrote your name on a slip of paper, just like everyone else in the club that wanted a chance and, for a moment, you felt guilty, you were going to make the odds go in your favor, instead of leaving it up to chance, and that was definitely not settling right with you. But, regardless, you dropped the paper in the jar and went back on to regular club activities. 

  


It’s been a month now, the draw is today, and you are on the edge of your seat. You know that when you wish for something this hard it almost always happens but… some part of you knows that the “almost” is too big of an “what if” 

Henry Brown, the clubs leader, stands on a chair rather precariously at the front of the room. He balances the jar on the top of the chair just long enough to cup his hands and call you all to attention. The time is now, your heart speeds up and you feel a little sweaty.

“ _Please please_ **_please_ **” you plea, and finally, he starts swishing the jar, reaches in and- 

“Haley McCormick” Your stomach _drops_. It’s finally happened, luck has left you and you have never been more disappointed. You will not be going to space any time soon, as it appears, but then, a boy speaks up from the back. 

“Haley Broke her leg last week, she can’t go” You feel so guilty for the bit of hope that springs back up into you. 

“Ah, then Ill draw again….” His hand dips back into the jar and you consider leaving, you feel sick, like you were the one that broke her leg but, then, he reads out the little paper slip, the light from the window making the purple pen marks just ever so slightly visible. 

“Jana Ellery?” You squeal, and hop up, before catching yourself and trying (see: failing) to reign yourself back in. 

“Ha, well, looks like someone is excited. I’ll send you the details tonight, you leave next Wednesday.”

You are barely cognizant of the rest of the meeting going on around you, you were really going? Was this a joke? God, it better not be, you’d probably cry. 

As you head back home that night, you can’t help but feel like luck has done far more for you than help you win a trip 


	2. A Cure For The Lonely

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Faelia gets some good news to brighten her day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so, after this one, the chapters will probably be longer for the most part, I wanted the intro bits to be a little shorter.

Your name is  **FAELIA MALORE** and you are  **NINE AND A HALF SWEEPS OLD.**

You lived on Alternia until roughly a year ago, after trolls started leaving for Earth. Though you are a Jade blood, you do not work in the Caverns, you hate working there. You were originally assigned to the Home Planet Caverns and you were imprisoned there, Jades were scarcely allowed to leave on Colony Caverns, but on Alternia? 

After you reached adulthood, you were absolutely not allowed to leave, ever. It was a perigee after your imprisonment there that Empress Feferi took over and let you all free. Most stayed, some transferred to other colonies, some went to earth to help there, but you? You made a fucking run for it. You love wigglers, really, but taking care of all of those children that eventually would become someone else’s charge, it filled you with a great sadness, one that you didn’t think could ever be fixed. But earth was different, and you were free to do as you pleased here. More importantly, humans didn't care about your mutation. You were a seadweller, a jade seadweller. It had been hell to hide on Alternia, you got so hot so quickly, yet you always wore that head scarf to cover your fins, high collared sweaters to cover your gills. Now that you were on earth, you could finally let them _breathe_

Despite how happy you were on earth, currently interviewing and approving humans (and occasionally trolls) who wanted to adopt from the Caverns here you were still missing something. Or rather someone. It was good to be apart of helping your species without having to be in the Caverns, but work did not fill your pale quadrant, Tenebe Caecus did. But her in all her saintly glory was still firmly planted on Alternia, she was a Bronze Psiionic, an odd mutation for her blood, but a useful enough one to keep her from being immediately culled, the empire always needed new helmsmen. She hid during her ascension, the same day that Empress Feferi killed her ancestor. She escaped being killed or helmed by a narrow margin, but soon after, Tenebe found a new reason to start trouble, as she always did. She had decided to stay on Alternia, working on rehabilitation of the malnourished helmsmen rescued after the Empress’s ascension. You very much wanted to bring her here, but she refused, not until all of her patients were well enough to travel as well, she would not leave them behind, not even for you. Of course, after seeing how passionate she was, you would not ask that of her. So here you wait, a spare recuperacoon in the corner of your room for her when she arrives. 

tenebrousAnomaly(TA) began pestering alturisticGenesis(AG)

TA: heey, it’s been a whilee

AG: I assuMed you were busy and I didn’t want to disturb you

TA: nah you’ree neeveer a botheer 

TA: <>

AG:<>

AG: So what have you decided to contact Me For

TA: doees theeree havee to bee a reeason? 

TA: wee aree moirails 

AG: yes but as I previously Mentioned

AG: you are usually rather busy

TA: k, you got mee

TA: I’m gonna comee to eearth! 

AG: Really? 

AG: You are serious?

TA: c’mon Faee, I wouldn’t pull on you likee that

AG: I was just Making sure! 

TA: Would you mind coming to heelp mee out? 

AG: Qf course not, but why do you ask? 

TA: I’m moving a bunch of eex-heelmsmen with mee

TA: I don’t trust very many peeoplee heeree too heelp

TA: and wee so could usee an eextra seet of hands 

AG: then I will be there

TA: thanks, Faee, I know I’ve been a shitty moirail sincee

TA: weell, sincee you moveed

AG: It was My decision to Move without you

TA: and it was minee to stay beehind insteead of going with you

AG: We can pass blame around when I get back home 

TA: yeeah, you’ree right

TA: listeen, I’ll seend oveer a tickeet for you, ok? 

AG: alright, when do I leave? 

TA: Neext weednsday alright?

AG: perfect. 

tenebrousAnomaly(TA) ceased pestering alturisticGenesis(AG)

You smile at your phone, it’s been nearly two perigees since you last spoke, and now you get the wonderful news that she will come here with you. No more crying and talking to yourself when you get homesick, no more emotions you cannot vent. She’ll finally,  _ finally _ be there again. Though logically, you know she will never fully be yours, her attention will always be split, but honestly? If you can get just a fraction of the commitment you two used to have back, it was more than enough. 

When you go to sleep that night, you are able to sleep on your bed for the first time in ages, the dreams that normal rack your unconscious mind stay far from you. 


	3. The Least Threatening Troll In the Vicinity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Airport shenanigans with a side of eqinep cameo

You wake up bright and early on Wednesday. You barely slept, and you probably would have forgotten to eat if your roommates were not so kind as to tell you to sit down for breakfast.

“You have  _ plenty  _ of time, girl, slow your roll” Elle says as she finishes scrambling eggs. Your grandma left you her house when she died, her oldest grandchild, under the condition that you would take in your siblings and cousins if they had need of a home. Since you were the oldest, none of them had moved out yet, aside from you and your brother. You filled the large empty house with other college aged people with nowhere to go. Elle was your first tenant. She still resides in the room three doors down from your own, still makes breakfast for everyone in the morning and still acts like a second mom to you, today shouldn’t be an exception. 

“Mornin’, Mini mom” Alex slides into the room and sits next to you at the counter. Elle scowls, she hates it when he mocks her height, though she’s never really cared too much about being called mom, however. Alex is a tall, broad, guy, your general handsome football player, only he hated sports, he may work to retain his physical looks, but definitely not in any football practices like many assume. Elle on the other hand, is soft, not short but not tall either, a nice middle ground, with warm eyes and an easy smile. Alex and Elle were always at each other's throats and it was really the only time either of them ever got nasty. One of the other tenants, Henry, told them to just bang already and get it over with, though you might have been less blunt, you thought the same thing. 

Before long, Elle piled five plates with food and delivered them to all of you at the bar stools. Grabbing a sixth plate for herself, she settles in next to you and starts up the usual morning chatter.

“So, I’ve been thinking, Ida, can you help me with my math homework? I don’t see anyway I’m not gonna flunk the next test without a little help” Wow, must be bad, Elle rarely asks for help, though she is constantly the one to provide it. Ida sighs, putting her switch down on the counter, you wonder if she’s doing a skyrim speedrun again, and looks over you to Elle. 

“Yeah, sure, but I can’t do it today, I promised one of my friends in class I’d help her out with her program, she can’t figure out what’s wrong with the coding.” 

“Doesn’t this girl always need help? Should be an easy fix for you” You add, Ida is a talented programmer and most problems within the subject are relatively quick fixes for her. But she lets out an even more exhausted sigh in response.

“ _ Normally,  _ yes, but this girl is SO good at royally fucking up her own code that I seriously doubt it won’t take most the evening to untangle her mess.” You hide your smile as Terhah, the one troll in your group, starts arguing with her about it. He is  _ so  _ pitch for her. You try ( _ try)  _ and not be nosy, inserting yourself into your friend’s romantic endeavors, but really, they make it hard for you to  _ not _ . 

You finish your food and  _ holy shit you’re going to be late _ . You leap up from the table as your sense of urgency returns.

“Guys I gotta go, like, now!” You say, just a little too loudly, Terhah winces a little bit, you always forget how easy it is to set off his amazing hearing. 

“I got the bags!” Alex hops up from his seat and grabs your two bags from their spot off to the side. 

“Key’s are hanging up!” you call after him, hurrying to gather your dishes. You feel Elle’s hand on your back as she takes the dishes from you and plants a kiss on your cheek. 

“I’ve got it, have fun, Jana” You smile and thank her and make your way around to Henry, Ida and Terhah for hugs. Terhah isn’t entirely used to the pack like way humans behave with each other, but he welcomes the hug, if a bit awkwardly, and tells you to enjoy yourself. He lingers for a moment and then asks you a favor. 

“If you land near enough, could you please check on my Lusus, he and his new charge are supposed to leave for earth soon and I want to make sure they are doing well.” You agree and he gives you a note with the address on it, you tuck it into your phone case for safe keeping. 

  
  


You arrive ten minutes later than you wanted but due to your habit of being late , you actually aimed to be here 30 minutes early. You wander over to a group of mostly trolls, sitting by a sign that indicates that this is the nearest waiting spot for your ship. You make your way to a seat next to a small jade girl. She looks no older than you, but her feet just barely reach the ground in the chair. Immediately this strikes you as odd, since most trolls you had met, Terhah included, were far taller than your 5.ft. She is just over five foot and you decide pretty much immediately that she is the best person to sit next to. She laughs the second you sit down and you look at her quizzically. 

“I’m sorry, it’s just. Every human to come into this section thus far has deemed me the least scary troll to sit near” You blush and whip your head around, looking for the other humans she spoke about. She waves her hand as if to dismiss your looking about.

“All of them moved after other humans came into the seating section as well, it’s not offensive, just funny” You smile at her, she has a nice face, you decide, small and circular with a pointy chin. She wears a thick piece of cloth about her head and you wonder why she’s wearing it in this heat. From what you know, very few trolls have any religious practices. You decide to ask about it in the most polite way you can. 

“I, uh, I’m kinda curious and uh, please don’t take this the wrong way but, why are you wearing so much clothing in this weather?”

“You mean my hair covering” 

“I-uh, yes?” She smiles, but this time it is much more sad than before. 

“I usually do not, here on earth, but some of my kind are not so forgiving to people who are different, even here, so I thought it best to not attract any attention to myself” Ah, she has a mutation. Terhah told you how those with outward mutations often covered themselves to hide it. He told you as well that it was a bad idea to bring up someone’s mutation in the presence of a highblood. You looked around, though most of the trolls seated about were mid or low, a few indigos and purples milled about the growing crowd. You decide to dodge the subject and start making idle conversation with the small troll. 

She is more than glad to talk with you as well, she chatters on about the best shops back on Alternia and which restaurants you should visit. When you tell her about your plant project, she excitedly tells you about her friend’s farm and how she is sure the other troll would allow you to take cuttings of her flora. You note down most of the places and her friend’s address in your phone and she asks for your pesterchum. She tells you that her palm husk doesn’t do well with human messaging apps, but that Trollian and Pesterchum have already patched their programs to work together so it should work fine. You don’t tell her you already know this because of your troll tenant who has an iPhone but absolutely refuses to use the messenger app instead of trollian. Damn Terhah and his stubbornness. 

Eventually, you eat up your 20 minutes and both of you rise to go over to the growing line of passengers when you are blocked by something. A very large cerulean troll has come into view, and they look pissy. 

“Exactly what the fuck is going on here?” You are confused, but Faelia looks petrified, you move in front of her. Though you are completely aware that she and this cerulean are probably far stronger than you, you’d rather you block their line of sight to Faelia. 

“Uh, we’re trying to board the ship, numb nuts” The insult takes no effect, and they stare down at you. You have never felt this small before and you decide very quickly that you fucking hate it. 

"With that little mutie? I don’t think so.” You aren’t sure if it’s some weird sixth sense trolls have or if they deduced the same thing you had when you remembered what Terhah told you. They reach out a hand to grab you, as if to force you aside, but they are rather suddenly lifted off the ground by the collar of their shirt.

“Excuse me, but last time I checked, both on Earth and Alternia, murder is illegal now” The rescuer is a enormous indigo blood. He is just as tall as the cerulean, but with bulging muscles and one broken horn, he looks fkat out tired of this bulshit and tosses the cerulean aside and they scramble from view, blubbering something about apologies and not expecting a general to be here today. 

“Thanks, for that, I’m pretty sure he was gonna pummel me” You say, you feel shaky and wonder exactly how much adrenaline was running amuck in you right now. He smiles, and you are about to bid him farewell, but Faelia steps out from behind you and gives him a short bow.

“Thank you for aiding us, General Zahhak” He shakes his head and tells her that it is not a bother and that honorifics are not necessary. It’s kind of funny, both of them talk in such a proper manner, it sounds like something out of an old book. 

You three are once again interrupted when a normal (in human terms) sized olive girl approaches. She launches on the giant troll’s back with a loud cry. 

“Equi-hiss, you’re  _ supposed  _ in line fur the ship right meow!” She uses cat puns, huh, that’s a new one. He smiles at her, the politeness of the first smile you saw was nothing compared to the wide, beaming expression he has now. 

“Ah, excuse me, ladies, but my Moirail is right, if you have a ship to catch I suggest you get into the queue as well” He turns to walk off with the olive still hanging off his back and Faelia looks at you in a sort of sad way. 

“Sometimes I forget how wonderful it is to have a good palemate...” You want to ask but are afraid she’ll say that whoever she is thinking of is dead, but she answers you anyway, you’ve never had a good poker face. 

“She is alive, but she is on Alternia still, it has been a long while since I have seen her” Oh, well that was probably why she was going home, you think. 

You decide to try and tread carefully, you know how sensitive trolls can be to questioning about Alternia and instead follow her silently to the line where people have began boarding the ship. 

It is HUGE. You are aware that the commercial ships are much smaller than fleet ships, but still, it is  _ massive _ . It looks as if it could comfortably hold at least 100 passenger rooms. This was a two day flight and you knew they’d need a lot of room to accommodate that many people for long trips but, geez… 

Faelia seemed unaffected by the ship (if anything, it was probably a little smaller than the ones that Jade bloods usually traveled on) and continued up the ramp. You lost track of her quickly, the trolls all went around the humans, who were being herded into a corner of the main entrance for a tour of the ship. You see a couple of humans wander off with trolls they knew, a few of them seemed to know what they were doing, frequent flyers, and went off on their own. You didn't  _ really _ want to go on the tour, but with Faelia gone, you didn’t trust yourself to not get lost if left on your own. 

The tour was boring as balls. It was like when your mathematics professor went on one of his endless stories. As great of a distraction as it was, it was also a great way to put you to sleep. But eventually it did end, you the tour guide pointed you all towards the residential halls, you turned down the third one, the key card she had given you in your hand. 

You stopped in front of the door that matched the number on your key and attempted to open the door. You fail, a few times. On your fifth try, a small hand reaches out and grabs your card, nimbly sliding it in and the door slides open for you. 

Faelia stands next to you, a sweet smile on her face. 

“I’m on the next hall, I heard you cursing and figured I’d help you out. You smile shyly at her. 

“Well, you wanna watch some movies, I’ve got netflix and a laptop?” She beams at you, and follows after you into your room. 


	4. Food for the Hungry, Movies for the bored

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fae and Jana watch some netflix and later eat some good food :)  
> and uh  
> fair warning, i'm updating the tags but I'll tell y'all here that there will be mentions/depictions of a mass murder (of trolls) and child abuse (not severe but I mean, it's still abuse)  
> both are only lightly touched on in this chapter and I'll post a warning when I post a chapter containing a lot more of it. 
> 
> Also also, for clarification reasons: Tenebe's quirk is double 'e' unless there is already two e's next to each other. Fae's quirk is capital M always, Q=O but only for the capitals. Lastly, Geni is pronounced "genie" and is short for Genine

You are quiet enthralled by the pretty human you befriended in the airport. She stands nearly a foot taller than you, has the most beautiful golden hair and that rich tan skin you have grown to love since you arrived on earth. But her most lovely asset is her eyes, like melted chocolate and amber, they are absolutely mesmerizing. Under normal circumstances, you are not particularly shy about expressing your feelings in any quadrant, however, humans don’t naturally partake in quadrants. You are worried about actually beginning to like this girl. Of course you think she is attractive, but what if this develops further? You know that humans can be very territorial about their mates, and very unwilling to share them with others. You also know that this is not the only way they behave, your neighbor told you as much when she introduced you to both her red partners. The idea of more than one person per quadrant startled you, but you think it made human/troll relationships a lot more promising. 

Back to the problem at hand; you have already agreed to essentially be her guide on Alternia, as long as she was fine with you leaving to visit your moirail, she was indeed fine with it. You don’t think you should fall flush for this girl, something tells you it will only cause you trouble, but something about it also excites you, the prospect of trudging through new territory of dating an  _ alien _ . A particularly cute alien who seems to at the very least be interested in a friendship with you. 

You are  _ supposed _ to be watching a movie with her, she’s been crying for a solid few minutes now and you are unsure of whether or not to comfort her, humans are pack creatures, right? It wouldn’t be crossing any lines? You decide to ask.

“Do you need comforting? Er- sorry, that may have been a little forward…” You blush as she tilts her head a little. She sniffs and dries her eyes with her blanket before responding.

“Uhm, does this have to do with the pale quadrant?” You nod, wondering how much of your romance she had a handle on. 

“Humans typically have multiple moirails, or at least some people who are similar to that. It’s usually called your friend group or support network I guess… And if any one was my moirail, it’d be Geni, who definitely would not mind if you gave me a hug” Oh, well, you suppose that since they are pack creatures that it makes sense that they would support each other in a group setting rather than just singularly. Jana’s understanding of quadrants gives you a flicker of hope that maybe, she’d be alright with dating someone who uses them. You hug her, knowing Tenebe would understand that this is a flushed gesture (you think). She holds tight to you, and you wonder why such a silly movie, Marley, made her so sad. It isn’t until you look up the movie synopsis that you realise you had tuned out of the latter part of the movie where the barkbeast main character dies. Humans are so peculiar, becoming emotional at the death of a fictional animal, you are honestly a little curious. 

“Can I ask why it is that humans feel such a connection to animals?” She looks a little surprised for a moment, but then answers you.    
“Uh, I guess it’s because we treat them like part of the family. Especially dogs, they’ve been labeled as ‘man’s best friend’ since, like, before we even had written language. And I guess seeing Marley die reminds me of my dog, he’s not that old, but I still worry about him a lot.” You nod, though humans do not have lusi, it seems that they still form connections similar to a child and their lusus to animals, of basically any kind, apparently. You’d probably cry if you saw anything close to your lusus die as well, hell, you’d cry if you thought about her potential demise too long. 

You are fairly quiet as you two watch more movies, it isn’t until your stomach starts growling that you consider moving. Your legs are asleep and your eyes are starting to droop, but the food problem reigns supreme as your main concern. Jana is starting to nod off as well and you nudge her back into consciousness. 

“Wha- oh, oops, did I fall asleep on you?” 

“Almost, but I was just wondering if you were hungry?” She smiles and slides off the bed, stretching as far up as she can and you make to follow her, 

“Have we taken off?” She asks, and the genuine curiosity in her voice is about the only thing stopping you from laughing. The empire’s ships move very quietly as compared to earth vehicles, although you heard the tell-tale signs of take off, they had apparently been outside of Jana’s hearing range. You nod in response and a thought occurs to you. Now that you are on the ship, most, if not all the more… intolerant, highbloods would be on the east half of the ship, secluding themselves from the low bloods aboard the vessel. You take off the head scarf you have been wearing. The surprise on Jana’s face is priceless. 

“Hey-wait I thought you didn’t want anyone to see?” Your short, poofy hair practically explodes out as you unwrap it, you body shivers as cold air touches your fins for the first time since you left home this morning. You quickly explain that the highbloods will not be on this part of the ship unless they are part of the decent/nice faction within their castes.The other trolls, even if they dislike mutants, will not do anything to a Jade on a ship full of other Jades. 

“Yeah, I was wondering about that. How come there are so many Jades aboard this ship? Aren’t most of them pretty tied down to their caverns?” You sigh, she is right, of course, there are a lot of Jades on this ship and it is very unusual for Jades to take leave of their caverns in such a mass exodus, you will answer the best you can.

“ I suppose they are going to Alternia to fetch new egg clutches and lusii herds for Earth. But is just as likely that they are switching out with a group that has been on break for a while and are taking their turn to visit planet bound friends or quadrantmates.” She nods, but you can see the beginnings of a new question bubbling inside her. 

“We should head out if we want to get food” You say, urging her to the door, you are  _ really _ starting to feel your hunger, it’s getting annoying. She grabs her key from the desk in the corner and comes back over to you. 

It isn’t until a minute or so of navigating the halls that she asks another question.

“Why do Jades always move in groups? I rarely see any alone, always pairs at least, except you?” Huh, not a lot of people had picked up on that, something about human women moving in groups as well that you didn’t really understand.

“I suppose it is because most of us are very sheltered, rarely leaving the caverns as children, and are barred from exiting them after reaching adulthood. It’s just more comfortable to travel with those you are most familiar with” She seems to think on this for a minute, she has a  _ lot _ of questions and you are unsure if your patience will hold out for all of them. 

“One last thing; how come you’re so cool with me being so nosy?” You snort, it is not a cute sound and your face heats up a tad, at least she is aware of how inquisitive she is being. It’s become a borderline interrogation.

“I have been around humans for about a year now, and honestly; one needs to get used to insistent questioning when you move to a new planet full of people with very little conversational boundaries” She is still for half a second before bursting with laughter, she stops and shakes with racking giggles. When she finally gets herself together she wipes tears from her eyes and starts to walk with you again. 

“Leave it to us humans to annoy the hell out of the first aliens we meet!” You are the one laughing this time, oh how you have  _ wished _ just one of the many humans you have met would make a similar joke just so you could finally, and unabashedly laugh at their ridiculousness. To be honest, you don’t even know why humans feel so strangely comfortable with a literal alien but you are also very glad that a large number of them share the trait. It makes things so much easier when they aren’t all either afraid of you or want you dead.

You two arrive at the communal eating block and head over toward the food tables that have been set out. 

“Any suggestions?” You quirk an eyebrow up, being that most alternian cuisine is bug based, many humans from western nations have a hard time adjusting to the idea of eating “creepy crawlies” as you have heard them called. Jana shrugs her shoulders and off handedly gives an explanation of her immigrant teacher who used to bring the class food from her home, something called “grasshoppers” were included in that. You honestly have barely paid attention to the human terms for bugs, most of them have silly names depending on dialect or region and even more of them have no real, widespread name so you just describe them if you need to. You decide on helping her pick out the more mild of your favorite foods, you have a taste for very spicy food but are not sure on her tolerance for such flavors. She reaches out for a pile of flat bread encased singing hard shell bugs, you can smell the violent concoction of spices in it and slap her hand away lightly, you search your mind for the human terms and explain yourself. 

“Those are spicy cicada tacos, they will not be good for you if you dislike foods with high levels of spice in them” She seems to consider this for a moment before plunking them on her plate.

“My mom used to make us eat hot peppers when we lied to her, so I think I can do it, I’ll grab some milk just in case though.” Well, that was odd. 

“Do human lusi often use methods of discomfort as discipline methods?” Jana’s eyes glass over for a second and she mumbled something about it being not a great idea. You aren’t about to press the subject, you have seen that look enough on injured lowbloods to know the look of someone who has, to be frank, been through some shit. 

The rest of your meal is relatively uneventful, the majority of the ship is filled with Jadebloods, the few odd high and lowbloods filter through, close to the side of their jade companions. None of the jades stop to talk with you, though you get a few odd looks here and there, but blissfully, Jana doesn’t ask, she seems to share your sixth sense about sensitive subjects. 

After a hilarious show of Jana mis-judging her spice tolerance and accidentally snorting milk, after you laugh so hard at a terrible joke she told and nearly choked on grubloaf and finally after you both were completely full, you returned to your temporary respite blocks. She gives you a quick hug and turns back to enter her own block. You can’t help but grin as you enter your own. 

alturisticGenesis (AG)  began pestering tenebrousAnomaly (TA)! 

AG: You will not believe the woMan i Met today! 

TA: color mee curious

TA: what’s got my normally anti social moirail all eexcited? 

AG: She is a huMan aboard the ship I aM taking hoMe and 

AG: I May be feeling a little flushed for her? 

TA: you’vee only known her for a day? 

AG: Yes and I aM aware of how cliche I sound but I cannot help it!

AG: She is simply wonderful

AG: We watched Movies the Majority of today and got dinner in the coMMunal eating block

TA: nothing likee a geeneric school feed grade meeals and human moviees to spark a reed rom 

AG: I see your point but I think there Maybe soMething here! 

AG: She knows so much about us and our culture already, and is so eager to ask questions

AG: She even has a good concept of quadrants!

TA: don’t takee my distrust of this neew human as irritation Faee

TA I’m reeally happy for you!

TA: it’s been agees sincee you’vee had a reed 

TA: i wasn’t suree you’d jump back into the fray until i kicked you’ree loneely ass in. 

AG: I know

AG: This feels different…

AG: good and scary and Maybe a tad exciting? 

TA: weell that all sounds like healthy stuff to feel with a neew crush

TA: I gotta go but you should bring her ‘round wheen you touch down

AG: I will but Tenebe Caecus you better not be planning on giving her the “Moirail speech” 

TA: mee?

TA: neeveer!   
TA: {;0

AG: That’s not even a real emoji

TA: eh

AG: You troublesoMe troll

AG: <>

TA: pale for you too dork

TA: <>

tenebrousAnomaly left the chat!

You sigh and fall back into the chair you were reclining in. Incredible, you may have finally (finally) found a new flushed interest, and a human at that! As your mind wanders to the possibilities of your budding friendship (and hopefully relationship) you decide to sleep on the human bed in the room instead of the ‘coon.

It was a mistake

For the first time in over a sweep, you are haunted once again by your own body, caked in still warm jade blood, and the face of the woman who cause the carnage of the grisly scene burning into your eyes. 

  
  



	5. Exploration date

You did not sleep well. 

After a rather haunting daymare, you switched over to the recuperacoon, but it provided no aid. Though you did not remember what you dreamed of in the ‘coon, you do know that it was very unpleasant, being that you woke up at an ungodly hour with a headache and drenched in sweat…

You decided to write in your daily log, something you didn’t do until you moved to earth, but well, one of your human friends had suggested that keeping a “diary” was a healthy way to express oneself. Without Tenebe, it was the closest you’d get to a feelings jam, you planned on letting her read it once she arrived on earth, it’d be an easy way to catch her up on your life since you last saw her. 

At 8:00 pm, you were a little drowsy still, your new diurnal earth schedule conflicting with the nocturnal Alternian one. Plenty of trolls still followed the night cycle instead of converting, but you thought it was rather unproductive since most places weren’t open all night like on Alternia. However , you had agreed to meet Jana for breakfast before the ship touched down in an hour. You’d hopefully take her to your old hive to drop off your bags before heading out to show her around. 

As you headed down the hall toward the communal eating block, you briefly considered texting Jana to make sure she had arrived alright, but you bumped right into her at the doorway. 

“Oh! There you are! I was about to come looking for you!” She says in a rather chipper tone. You smile at her and pull her toward the line once again, you two chatter almost constantly during your meal and it is a miracle you finished eating in time. But sure enough, when the ship landed, you and Jana were done eating and had your luggage on your backs. 

She constantly made little gasps of surprise and wonder as you walked through the city, she asked about the architecture and the cars (of which you told her are called scuttle buggies) and about almost every single plant she saw. 

As of current, you were outside of your double-sided hive, she was crouched low next to a tall blue weed that had sprung up in your absence. 

“It’s just so amazing!” She cooed, gently touching the plant’s leaves. 

“Well, I’m quite sure no one will mind if you dig it up and bring it home as one of your samples. They are a rather annoying commonality here, she beamed up at you and your blood pusher kicked it up a notch, you were so fucked up for this girl already. 

“Really? Blue plants are so rare on earth, actually, it’s the least common color in nature…” She rambled on and on about the color, until you had already taken both of your bags inside and come back with a flora container. You helped her dig it out and transplant it into the pottery, she smiled proudly as she brought it inside as well. You couldn’t help but grin as she practically skipped back out to you. 

“Hey, I was wondering if you could tell me where this place is?” She said, handing you a piece of paper with an address scribbled on it, not too far away, maybe an hour aboard a high speed rail vehicle, you tell her this and she thanks you enthusiastically. 

“It’s where my friend’s lusus and his new kid live! Terhah wants me to make sure they’re alright and getting ready to move, they’re gonna come to earth soon!” That’s actually rather interesting, not many have managed to convince lusii with young kids to make the journey, but apparently this Terhah had been persuasive enough to get his lusus to go. You suggest saving that trip for tomorrow and that you two spend the rest of today exploring. She agrees once again, enthusiastically. 

You take her everywhere you used to frequent, and some places you are less familiar with but are sure she’ll enjoy. 

Firstly, you head in to town and hit up every major clothes store you can find. Shopping is definitely one of your hobbies and getting to be surrounded by quality alternian designs is sure to take a toll on your wallet. Good thing Tenebe sent you spending money, with a note about your bad habits and how she’ll let you indulge in it as a late wriggling day gift. 

It was not advisable, you and Jana have your arms full by the end, four bags with very clear labeling, you, here, Tenebe and assorted things Jana wanted, like books, a map and three (three) different sculptures that really just look like junk to you. 

Regardless of her questionable taste in souvenirs, Jana proves yet again to absolutely attract your attention wherever you two go. You found your self relocating old friends who stayed on the planet and although you loved catching up with them, you couldn’t help but find excuses to spend more time glued to Jana’s side. 

It was getting close to daylight the two of you heading back to your hive when you spotted exactly the girl Jana would want to meet. Delria Demros was an average 6ft tall jade girl about a sweep younger than you, she was beautiful, in a calm, friendly sort of way and most notably, she wore bright rust colored overalls, a big jade shirt that was definitely not her size and a floppy sun hat. She tended to stand out with her red clothes, but the hat was really was set her off from the others. 

Delria was a _wonderful_ gardener and you count your blessings each time you think of her that she narrowly missed having to ascend; her being trapped underground would kill her, not only that, but her skills with plants were such a grand asset that you couldn’t imagine how your city would fair without the number one supplier of fresh produce. She was the last trained by a lovely (and talented) group of bronze trolls who used to tend the farm, but the spike in bronze cullings as of late brought their numbers down to very few, most of them spread far and wide. One stayed firmly planted on her farm, she was culled when you ascended, but not before she had successfully trained Delria to replace her. 

You walk up to the floral container that Delria is crouched by, Jana curiously following behind you. She turns to look up at you and smiles wide before standing up, brushing off her legs as she did. 

“Faelia! It’s been forever!” You feel the corners of your mouth tug up into a similar smile and pull the taller girl into a hug, Del has always been close to you, much like human siblings you suppose. 

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you I was coming back!” You spit out, just now realising that yes, a normal troll probably would have told her old friends that she was returning before showing up in front of them. She brushes the response off and instead points to Jana. 

“Who’s your fall behind? Is she your new red?” Your face heats up and you shoot Delria a glare, Jana looks a tad bit embarrassed as well.

“No! We’ve only met recently, actually, I have a request for you!” Diversion, nice job Fae, Delria is  _ so _ gonna tell Tenebe about this later, those two were always collaborating to get you back into the red dating game. She waggles her eyebrows at you and you restrain the urge to punch her in the arm. 

“Oh, and wait can I do to help my favorite shorty and her new human friend?” You roll your eyes at the air quotes she puts around ‘friend’. 

“Jana is here to get some samples of alternian flora for earth scientists”Delria claps her hands together in excitement, leave it to Del to be utterly distracted at the mention of plants. She steps closer to Jana and extends her hand in greeting, Jana accepts the shake and smiles back at her. 

“Nice to meet you! Would it be ok if I took a few samples from your farm?” 

“Of course! I’d love to go to earth myself, but until I finish training some replacements I’m stuck here, but I’d totally love to send some of my dears with you!” The two start delving into the details and you barely are able to keep up as they quickly start talking about planets and things you don’t really know. Jana suggests that Delria transplants them into boxes for shipping so that they are well prepared, she also insists that Del picks whatever she thinks will make it the easiest with minimal damage. Del is more than happy to comply and even adds that she’ll include a couple of her seeds and copies of her instructions for them. You’re glad they are getting along so well, but as the sky lightens, you know that Jana needs to get inside. If you let them continue, this will not end well; Jana’s diurnal self will not see the light as an issue, and jades aren’t harmed by the sun so it’s unlikely that Delria will stop on her own either. 

“Girls, I believe that we need to depart, as the sun is rising and Jana is not equipped to deal with it.” Del’s face sparks with recognition of the predicament they are in and shoos you two off. 

“Wait! Doesn’t Delria need to get inside too?” 

“Not at all! Jades are impervious to sunlight, but you aren’t!” She calls from her place back by the planter. 

“Well that was fun!” Jana says as you pass through the door back at your hive. She drops her bags to the ground and kicks off her shoes. 

“Wanna have another movie marathon?” She askes. 

“Sure, I’ll heat up our leftovers from lunch” you add, pattering over to the nutrition block and popping the flimsy containers into the reheating receptacle. 

“Do we still have soda too?” She says, following you into the block. You nod and hand her one from the pack you’ve been carrying. She retrieves the food when they machine beeps it’s finish and walks back out to flop on the couch. You move next to her and she shares the blanket she got out of her bag with you as you two begin to scroll through netflix.

After some large amount of time, when the tinted windows of the hive indicate that the sun has long since risen, you two droop into sleep on the couch, neither of you particularly motivated to seek more comfortable arrangements. 


	6. Mysterious Messenger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Our gals are stopped by some familiar faces and some not so familiar ones, where this leads, tune in next time!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I moved! and got a new computer! it's been hell! :)

You wake up with some dull coldness creeping into you. Well, maybe “cold” wasn’t the right word… maybe lukewarm?

It was Faelia, obviously, the two of you had crashed out on the couch, which was a little concerning because, well, trolls aren’t supposed to sleep without sopor, it opens them up to nightmares, as you have been told. Honestly it isn’t surprising that almost all trolls have chronic sleep ruining dreams, the previous regime was an absolute shitshow.

You decided it’s within both of your best interests for you to check up on her. Faelia is pressed close to you and it’s a little hard to get a look at her face, but when you do, you note her closely knit brows and strained expression about her. You nudge her softly, then a little rougher and when that fails as well, you start calling her name.

“Faelia? Faelia, your dreaming, wake up…” She doesn’t react for a moment, and then her eyes flutter open, wide and scared. She seems to recognize you after a second and visibly calms. She flushes jade and pushed up off of your chest, she starts to settle, but then you both realise she is essentially straddling you and has her hands literally right on your boobs, she gives little “eep” and jumps up from the couch entirely.

You are certain the both of you are so flustered that your faces look like Christmas decorations together. You sit up and she tries (fails) to appear normal, you ignore the awkwardness and get to the point.

“Wereyouhavinganightmare?” you say all at once. She nods slowly and takes a seat next to you, a reasonable distance between the two of you.

“I-Jana, thank you for waking me but I really do not want to talk about it..” You tell her this is fine and get up to look for food. YOu two bought some stuff to make yesterday so there is definitely stuff in the cabinets once again, and it’s a hell of a good distraction.

Not long after you have started cooking does Faelia join you, directing your usage of alternian ingredients and you doing the same for the earth ones. Sooner rather than later, you have both prepared a rather good mix of alternian and earth (see: american) breakfast foods, probably more than you need but oh well, you’ll save it for later.

You fall into an easy rhythm as you eat and talk with Faelia, she tells you about some fun childhood stories and waxes into nostalgia thinking about her lusus, who apparently Tenebe has been watching after. You talk about your siblings and your housemates and their ridiculous antics. She totally agrees that Terhah is going pitch for Ida, you are _floored_ someone else sees the potential there. It’s almost 10 pm when your stomach is full and your conversation dies down, you decide to discuss your day plans.

“So we’re going to visit Terhah’s Lusus today, right?”

“Oh, yes. It’ll be about a 2 hour trip so make sure your palm husk is charged fully!” God. You’ll never understand why trolls call pretty much all electronics “husks” and you aren’t all that sure you want to know.

You grab your bag off the floor after you’ve helped Faelia clean up and she meets you by the door with her own bag.

“I bought the tickets electronically so they’ll just have to scan the screen for us both” You tell her you’ll pay her back for the ticket, but she insists that it isn’t an issue. You still feel a little guilty but she won’t hear it!

The train ride is boring as fuck.

Which is to be expected, the thing travels like… 200 miles per hour and is _exclusively_ functional, there is no ads, decoration or even padding on the seats. You see more than a few highbloods with little pillows to sit on and wish you had the same foresight, instead you use your jacket as a cushion. You and Faelia spend the entire time leaning back and showing eachother dumb memes, you are just barely able to read the alternian text, but you still need help deciphering some of them. Faelia, on the other hand, is almost perfectly proficient in english reading, but she still can’t tell lower case ‘i’ and ‘l’ apart very well.

Eventually after what feels like a hell of a lot longer than two hours, the train pulls to a stop and you two gather up your things to get off. It’s then that you are stopped by a tall indigo blood. You hope to hell she isn’t going to cause trouble, but she looks so peppy you have a hard time believing she is going to do anything besides hug you. She looms over you both in a smart looking outfit with two spiraling pigtails and a dangerous looking gem set into a choker on her throat. She is equally attractive and a little off putting, you decide.

“Hello!” Shes says, flashing all of her teeth in a wide grin, she extends her hand to you and you shake it rather nervously.

“Hi? Do you know Faelia?” You look over to your friend and her expression of confusion mirrors yours.

“Nope! But I know Tenebe! She sent me to take you to our base later, but I’m sure you guys have something else to do first, or else you wouldn’t have traveled this far!” You are about to ask for proof that Tenebe sent her, but Faelia is already texting the bronze blood and seems to get a fast response.

“Tenebe says that you really should introduce yourself before claiming to be a guide” The tall girl flushes blue and scratches at the back of her head.

“My bad..I tend to get a little excited when I actually get out of the shop! I’m a false limb technician so I’m usually too busy to go into the city. But- ah, I’m Ladore Shalof!” false… limb? OH she means prosthetics! God here we go again with overly specific troll naming conventions.

You and Faelia say goodbye (for now) to Ladore who tells you to text her where to meet up later and you get her trolltag, telltaleCrow and her moirail’s incase she doesn’t answer, cursedApollian. Faelia leads you through the crowd of mostly midbloods and you keep a tight grip on her sleeve, you’d lose her in a second if you let go. Unlike the mostly low blooded and calm town you landed in (which is to be expected, you ticket was probably the cheapest), this town is full of teal, green and blue, almost every building is taller than you have ever seen and each of them is labeled with the most oddly specific names you can even imagine. You see a short and stout building labeled “new alternian low blood legal action front” and wonder what on earth it fucking _means_ by that. But a scratchy, tired voice answers your unspoken question.

“It’s a law firm specializing in actually prosecuting Highbloods that misuse their power. The Empress appointed a new head Neophyte and she demanded justice for low blood victims first thing” You turn to look at the person the voice came from, she is a short teal blood, but still about your height. She has wire glasses falling off her face and looks like the most tired and antisocial harvard law kid you could possibly conjure up in your head. She’s definitely a lawyer, for sure. You look at the clear liquid in her cup, huh, you would have pegged her for a coffee drinker-

“It’s vinegar”

“whAT”

“I said, it’s vinegar” You stare in bewilderment for a moment before a taller, pink robe clad troll lady bustles up next to you.

“Zi-Zi, don’t scare tourists! It’s only water hun, Tziyas is just dramatic. I’m Stelsa! Please spread our firm’s name around, yeah? Here’s our card!” She pulls a business card from Tziyas’ jacket pocket and the two rush (see: Stelsa pulling Tziyas along) to another group of teals. Faelia starts to drag you off and you are somehow even more bewildered than before, you look to her for help.

“We need to leave the working district before more of them surprise us- oh, sorry dear, Teals are just kind of like that.” You wonder exactly what the fuck “like that” entails but something tells you that a) you don’t want to know and; b) the longer you stay on alternia, the more likely you are to get jumped by various teals who spout random information and try to prank you.

You shove the card into your bag and continue being dragged along the city by Faelia, she looks at your paper with the address from time to time, furrows her brows and gets back to work navigating. True to her word, the large buildings eventually disappear into a suburb and near identical hives with varying shades of green to blue are set out before you, she pulls you down the furthermost lane and stops four hives down. You go to knock on the door.

A little boy appears, he looks no more than five years old and has a thick set of sunglasses over his eyes.

“Hello? What do you want?” A lusus screeches in the background and boy rephrases the question in a more polite form.

“Hi! I’m a friend of Terhah Mentak, he was your lusus’ last charge? He wanted me to make sure you’re ready to move to earth soon!” the boy scrunches up his nose and waddles back into the house, bumping into things (swearing loudly, kid’s got a dirty mouth on him) before eventually arriving back at the door.

“My lusus says we’ll be good to leave in a week or so. And to ask you where Terhah lives so we can land close to there.”

You write your city, state and country along with your address for the boy and hand it over. He wrinkles his face up a bit and sniffs the paper, what the hell?

“Sorry, that’s probably weird, I can’t see, Neophyte Pyrope does classes on how to use smell to see sometimes but I can’t pick it up” You look at Faelia and she shrugs.

“Blindness is an unfortunately common injury among teals, it’s not unusual for them to develop strange methods of navigating their surroundings. The boy jumps when she starts to speak.

“See thats why I gotta move! I can’t learn that junk! And I didn't even know there were two of you here! Crane dad says it’s too dangerous to stay here if I can’t fight for myself…” Something deep in your gut contracts, you have sorrow for this boy pouring out your ears, forced to change _planets_ because he can’t develop a near super power to compensate for his disability. Faelia assures the boy that Earth is way better anyway, and that earth likely has things to aid the blind in navigating, she looks to you for help and you confirm her statement.

“Yeah, actually there is a written language for blind people on earth, it’s called braille. There’s also special accommodations and classes to teach it to people or help them along…” The boy wrinkles his face up again and cocks his head to the side.

“But if you can’t hear or smell around you, how can they get around?” You think for a moment, your experience with blind people begins and ends with an elementary school lesson and the occasional students you see around your college campus. You elect to tell him about walking canes, which is already familiar with (duh) and guide dogs. He seems a little confused about the concept of using barkbeasts as guides but seems to be a little more excited about the move after you talk with him.

Before you leave, you give his lusus a copy of the picture you took of Terhah on his birthday. He doesn’t _really_ understand humans having big parties but is more than happy to see Terhah fitting in so well. You leave after a little longer and a few more assurances that Earth is definitely safer than Alternia.

You pester Ladore shortly after while you and Faelia are waiting for your lunch.

candidLacuna (CL) began pestering> telltaleCrow (TC)

CL: Hello?

CL: Ladore?

telltaleCrow (TC) is an Idle Chum!

CL: UGH

Ok so maybe her moirail?

candidLacuna (CL) began pestering cursedApollian (CA)

CA: =uh, c@n I h3lp you?<

CL: Your moirail told me to contact you if she didn’t answer

CA:= I’d qu3stion wh3th3r or not th@t was tru3 but th@t sounds 3x@ctly lik3 som3thing L@dor3 would do<

CL: normaly I’m a lot more polite but what in the fresh hell is wrong with your typing?

CA: =wh@t?<

CL: that

CA: Oh, my quirk. I can stop if you want.

CL: thank god

CA: so you’re human then?

CL: yep! How’d you guess?

CA: man no one complains about quirks except humans

CL: shit am I being culturally insensitive?

CA: no

CA: honestly we can’t even understand eachother sometimes.

CA: try reading a royal address from the Empress, she only talks in fishpuns, writes ‘h’ as )----( and ‘e’ as -----E

CL: I hate it already

CA: don’t get me started on Neophyte Pyrope

CL: oh no

CL: I’ve had enough run ins with teals to not like where this is going

CA: sparkly rainbow pens, all caps 4ND 4N 1NS1ST4NC3 ON U1NG 413 1N 3V3RY CONC1EV4B1E M4NN3R

CL: how do you people get anything done

CA: no clue

and also, history suggests we do not get anything done in a timely manner.

CA: Ladore isn’t answering her palmhusk so I’m gonna beep her

CL: Beep her?

CA: it’s an app our friend programmed for her, makes her husk beep really loud to get her attention, she gets a little too absorbed in her work.

CA:And random shit.

CA:And random people.

CA: She’s easily distracted

CL: So has she responded yet?

CA: yeah, she’s calling hold up

You wait, very impatiently, while trying to hide said impatience from Faelia, for about a solid 5 minutes before he responds

CA: Ladore is en route

CA: expect her in a few minutes, she’s taking her hovercrawler

CL: that didn’t make any sense.

CA: ask your matesprit about it

CL: uh? I don’t have a girlfriend?

CA: Ladore said you were with Tenny’s moirail and she was totally into you so i kinda assumed

CL: _if you are messing with me I’ll hunt you down_

CA: jegus take some calming medication dude

CA: trolls release pheromones all the time and red feelings are pretty loud and clear as far as Ladore can tell

CL: GTG I need to talk to a person about a thing

CA: hey wait!

candidLacuna(CL) is an idle chum!

CA: fuck!

You are about to excuse yourself to have a minor (minor) panic about the attractive lady troll that apparently is broadcasting “date me” signals, but she beats you too the punch line.

“I am going to head to the public waste block, troll me if Ladore arrives before I return” She leaves and you are not quite sure if her hand lingers on your chair or if it is wishful thinking...

You decide this is _definitely_ a best friend emergency  
**JANA==== > TEXT YOUR BEST BITCH**


	7. Not So Secret Secret Base

**candidLacuna (CL)** **began pestering** **fanaticalSeamstress (FS)** **!**

**FS: Hey babe, whats up!**

**FS: I guess you, literally speaking lol**

**CL: I am in a CRISIS**

**CL: and I need your help in matters of extreme gay importance!**

**FS: ooooo two of my fav things, crises and lesbianism!**

**CL: Seriously Geni!**

**FS: ok babe, I’m all ears**

**FS: or uh**

**FS: eyes I guess since this is written**

**CL: SO I already tole you about the hot troll lady**

**FS: yes, in fact you did!**

**CL: WELL apparently trolls have like pheromones???**

**FS: I like were this is going….**

**CL: and someone smelled some romantic intentions off of her?**

**CL: with me??????**

**CL:????**

**FS: go for it!**

**CL: what!**

**FS: GO**

**FS: FOR**

**FS: IT**

**CL: it’s not that easy!!!**

**FS: yes it is!**

**FS: it’s not like with human chicks where you gotta worry if she’s gay of not!**

**FS: they’re practically all pansexual!**

**FS: and home girl it can’t GET more obvious than actually fuckin dowsing you in *please date me and or bang me* smells!**

**CL: I am not entirely sure how to react to that!**

**CL: also you’re right and I hate when you’re right.**

**FS: that’s what I’m here for!**

**CL: also…**

**CL: on a different topic**

**CL: me and Faelia were talking about moirails and stuff and IDK**

**CL: I mentioned you, but do YOU think we’re like that?**

**FS: if this is your way of asking me to troll date you in the nonsexual way I totally accept**

**FS: also you suck at this**

**FS: please don’t ask out your new boo like that**

**CL: Geni!!!**

**FS: but seriously babe. Who else do I even call babe unless I’m dating them?**

**FS: ever since we met the trolls, it really has put a big spotlight on just how important platonic relationships are and you do, in fact, mean the world to me <>**

**CL: that’s adorable and honestly, I feel like a shitlord for not thinking about this earlier.**

**FS: nuh uh, no need for that!**

**FS: you thought you had it out for a girl for all four years of high school before you figured out you were a big gay nerd**

**FS: I was actually thinking about asking YOU out pale when you came back, since I figured it’d be a while before you got there yourself!**

**CL: well FINE**

**FS: pale for you too babe! <>**

**CL: you’re embarrassing…**

**CL: <>**

You look up from your phone in time to see Faelia stick her head around the corner.

“Jana, Ladore has arrived out front” You start to stand and grab the food you’d ordered to-go and walk towards her. 

“Did you pay? Or should I?” You ask she nods and you two exit the café. 

“I paid while you were still on the phone, I didn’t want to interrupt” Ladore is waving you two down from the curb. She has a blue hover vehicle that you figure is supposed to be a truck, but the shape is so round that it takes you back for a second. It’s kinda funny looking. 

The ride to Tenebe’s base is pretty quiet, well, at least you and Faelia are, Ladore seems to never shut up. She talks about how much fun it is now that Feferi is Empress. Excitedly explaining that most of the amputees are lowbloods and couldn’t afford her prosthesis (as cheap as she tried to make them), but the Empress’s new assistance programs were going a long way to keep her busy and challenged with new projects. 

After a good stretch of time, filled mostly by Ladore’s chipper voice, you arrive at a large cavern, fitted with menacing metal doors that stretch far above your head. The mountainside that it’s in is barren, no plants grow around it and no fauna are to be seen. Nothing seems particularly out of place, the doors themselves looking as if they had simply grown along with the mountain. There is one thing that catches your eye, it’s the small, flashing light at a much more normally sized door near the bottom of one of the large ones. 

Ladore excitedly leads you two up to the door and as soon as she gets up to it, the light ceases flashing, instead becoming a steady beam to scan her. 

“Ladore Shalof, Engineer: Approved access” a metallic voice beeps out of an unseen speaker, the light begins to focus on Faelia. 

“Faelia Malore, Medic: Approved access” The light turns on you and you wonder what it’ll do, and if the system will recognize-

“Jana Ellery, Botanist: Approved access” Well, that answers that. Weird that it called you an actual botanist, though, you’re still just a student. The light starts to flash again, and the door slides open, the three of you walk in and almost immediately, Faelia spots Tenebe, she had been making her way to the door, but was still a good 20 feet off. Faelia breaks into a sprint and tackles her to the ground. 

“aww!” Ladore coos, a small troll in all grey strides up to her side and flicks her shoulder. 

“Ladore be a good host instead of looking at Ten’s gross pale reunion” Ah, that tone seems familiar. 

“But Peri, come on! It’s so cuuute!!” She smiles happily down at what you are assuming is her moirail and he gives her a small smile back.

“Fine, I’ll do it then” He waves you forward and starts to walk away from them. 

“So as you may have guessed, I’m Perdit Eicose, Ladore’s moirail, though grubsitter is more accurate sometimes.” He growls, but it has no bite. He takes you further into the complex, around winding beams and countless platforms of people. Your eyes become unfocused, trying to see everything at once, but your sight quickly latches back on to Perdit as he begins to talk. 

“This structure, as you may have noticed, is quite possibly the oldest damn things on Alternia.” Holy shit, that’s kinda awesome. 

“It was built back around the Summoner’s Revolution, in case you haven’t heard of him, he’s the immediate successor to the Signless, inspired a lot of people to fight back, though that whole thing didn’t exactly end well either. Story goes that Summoner and Mindfang, his matesprit and 2nd in command, guilted the Expatriate to help design bases for the Revolution. Most of them were destroyed with their occupants trapped inside, but this one, for whatever reason, was never bombed, or torn to shreds like all the others.” He knows his shit, and apparently is just as wordy as his moirail. 

“So who was the Expatriate and why did they guilt him?” You question, if what you know about Signless’s following is true, then bullying people into helping you is probably a no-go. 

“Yeah, a lot of humans don’t know his secondary name. He’s the Executioner, Darkleer by some accounts, he was the one ordered to kill Signless, and the Disciple, but he couldn’t kill her for some reason and was banished for it. He became referred to as the Expatiate after that.” A good reason, you suppose. Perdit becomes more and more engrossed in his lecture about the hideout’s history, and though, you find it interesting, you also can’t help but be a little spaced out, lectures were never your thing. 

Perdit has started on all the faults of living in a mountain and all the reasons why he will be dragging Ladore back home today instead of staying at the base, and though you hear him, you mind is somewhere else. 

In front of you is an incredibly big room, with large windows stretching across the entry wall, a couple of doors sprinkled in. You recognize it as a hospital. It’s clinically white, bright fluorescent light illuminates the room, and all of the beds are filled with yellow bloods. Some look far more conscious than others, some are accompanied by friends, or a bed mate, as there seems to be more of them then there is space. They look frail, and sickly, as if the lightest breeze could knock them out and over. You shiver a little, knowing before Perdit catches your look what he will say. 

“This is the Helmsman recuperation bay, we’d have them in sopor, but it makes it harder on the Medicullers to get them out for treatment. That and ex-helmsmen are notoriously afraid of going under any pan altering substances, it’s best to not stress them out too much.” One of the psiionics closest to the glass looks toward you and waves their hand toward you. They have thick wires attached to the backs of their hands and metallic grafts on the side of their head. It flat out scares the hell out of you, and you definitely don’t want to see the biotech any closer-. Oh fuck you, the gangly yellowblood stumbles upward and waddles over to the door, caring what looks like a battery in their hands. Perdit lets out a breath of irritation rolls his eyes. 

“that’s Etceta Harron, I had hoped she wouldn’t see us because she’s the chattiest person in the bay. Don’t be too freaked out by the wires, they don’t hurt, she just can’t control her powers on her own so she needs them to help out” Etceta makes it to the door and pushes through it with a little burst of green/purple sparks. 

“Hey! No one told me we were having a human guest!” She reminds you a bit of Ladore in her tone, but with a far more scratchy quality layered over.

She bumps into Perdit and starts on a long winded introduction. 

“Hi! I’m Etceta Harron, I used to be a ship but the morons didn’t even know how to strap me in right so now my pan’s a little fucky butya know, them's the stopping mechanisms am I right? It gets  _ sooo  _ boring in here and pretty much everyone is too cluckbeast to bring any interesting visitors over to the med bay, you’re like, the first fresh face I’ve seen in a perigee! Imagine that! They’re letting me out soon, supposedly, but like, all the medicullers are being ri-di-cu-lous all because I popped like all my stitches a couple times. MRPHFF” Perdit claps his hand over her mouth and groans in an exaggeratedly loud fashion. 

“See, THIS is why I didn’t point out the med bay. I didn’t want Etceta’s uncontrollable vocal flaps to spew a fuck load of unesse- OW” Etceta clamped down on Perdit’s hand and he yanked his injured appendage away from her. YOu could tell he was about to yell so rather rude obscenities, but as if summoned by the presence of pain, one of the medics came swiftly outside. She was a tall jadeblood with a streak of her blood color through her hair and wearing a pure white lab coat over a very trendy outfit. 

“Etceta Harron! What have we been telling you about excessive movement! You have another week of coon rest and I will not be kind if I need to repair your stitching again- Perdit, I’m so sorry she got loose dear, I’ll get her back inside” The woman ushers Etceta back and Perdirt rolls his eyes. 

“Bronya is one of our best Medicullers, she’s been illegally treating sick wriggers for years so working with delicate people is right up her alley, come one, there’s really no point in staying here to watch her lecture Etceta some more.” He starts moving away and you find yourself lagging behind him a little, for such a short troll, he’s really damn fast. He leads you through more of the massive structure until you spot a sign you can vaguely recognise as pointing to the cafeteria. You  _ are  _ getting hungry again…

“Perdit, can we get something to eat?” He looks surprised for a second. 

“Oh fuck, yeah, I should have thought of that, huh? I’ll page Ladore and the others so they can meet us there.” 

He speaks rapidly in the fast clicks you’ve come to know as another language. 

“Perdit, can you tell me about the clicking thing you guys do, my translator works fine for normal Alternian but-” 

“It’s called primal tongue, all of us speak it from hatching, but it has no written version and most other species can’t replicate it well. Your translator is set to common tongue, which we use and teach other species more regularly. These pagers suck though and primal carries over radio better.” That is  _ SO  _ fuckin neat you are gonna have to tell Geni all about this. You rely how cool you think that is to Perdit but he just shrugs. You suppose that being bilingual isn’t much of an achievement when everyone in your species speaks two languages. 

It is now that you realise you are in fact, trilingual, now, as you have been studying alternian and currently speak both spanish and english. That’s also really fuckin cool and something that should have occured to you way before now. 

Your walk ends at a large set of double doors, leading to a wide open room filled with very enticing smells of food, you hear your stomach growl and Perdit laughs. 

“Alright, lets go get a table.” 


	8. Lunch and Troll Cinderella

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I meant to post this a good long while ago so now we doing a double update folks!

Perdit sits you down with a group of mostly grey wearing trolls, even their signs are grey or black. They shift their focus to you as Perdit drags you over.

“Peri, who said you could bring fresh meat over?” Calls a tall troll with jagged horns.

“It was my table first, bitch, and what the fuck are you doing back here any way? Don’t you have a matesprit to annoy?” The troll leans back on the chair, pushing it up on to it’s back legs.

“Anklea has a emergency case to cover, she dropped me and the wiggler off a little bit ago.” Perdit thunked his butt down and you sit directly next to him.

“Jana, meet the losers, losers, this is Jana, she’s Ten’s moirails’s friend.” A chorus of hellos goes around before Perdit decides to introduce them all. Yariel is the loud one who called you over, Ithuma is a quiet girl with white hair, Salvir looks like a 50’s pinup and the last person is a hunched over kid in a baggy sweatshirt that Perdit calls Felisi. Perdit briefly explains that all of them are mutants, with the exception of Yariel, who apparently is just too annoying for most other people to deal with.

“Basically, we like to hide here because it’s a hell of a lot safer than out there-“

“Hey, I am most certainly not pussy enough to be here of my own volition!” Salvir protests. Perdit gives him a look TM.

“Salvir is under hivearrest because his way of not dying includes being a mob boss and pailing seadwellers for leverage.”

“It worked didn’t it?” He says smugly, Perdit ignores him.

He starts eating and you take it as a sign to stop chatting and do the same. The others don’t take the hint and continue to talk about some show they like, Fiduspawn?

Eventually, Faelia enters with Tenebe, they both approach the table and everyone lets out another round of greetings. Tenebe sits by you before Faelia can and she gives her a _look_. Well, that was a clear “don’t embarrass me” kinda expression if you ever saw one.

“Ugh, these dudes are totally nerds, should’ve known Peri would make us sit with them” Perdit shoots daggers at her. You get the feeling that she antagonizes Perdit a lot. 

“Speak for yourself almighty leader! No one forced you and your Moirail to have a gigantic PDA fest, ignoring her fall-behind human.” Faelia blushes, but Tenebe just quirks a smile at him.

“You’d be worse if Ladore was gone for a sweep”

“Yeah but I’ve been living with her for a long ass time argument invalid”

Ithuma puts her hands up in a defensive pose.

“Not that I am not enjoying the vaguely black undertones of you two’s ‘platonic’ rivalry, but please contain yourselves in front of our guest.” Perdit sputters a few chirpy insults at her and Tenebe laughs. Tenebe’s laugh, it hits different, it's like thunder, booming and ringing throughout your head, but in a good way? You aren’t sure how to describe it, but it gives off the feeling of genuine happiness and a laid back attitude.

The table squabbles about various media and food choices for a solid hour before you get to leave. Tenebe leads you and Faelia into the barracks, which is honestly more like an apartment complex (or Hivestem, you guess). She rounds a corner and stops half way down,

“Here’s you two’s room-“ She pushes the door open and gestures you both in.

“We’re a little over capacity right now, but this is Anklea and Yariel’s room when they come and stay, so it’s open.” Wait. Huh, that’s weird.

“Isn’t Yariel here? He said he got dropped off here by Anklea” She rolls her eyes (you think, it’s hard to follow the light pupils in her neon eyes)

“he’s being over dramatic, we recovered a yellow blood he used to be pale for pretty recently, he’s always making up excuses to stay with the dude in the medbay. Their wiggler is in the wiggler care center,” What a dork, trying to cover his ass with a flimsy excuse like “my gf says u have to grubsit me” when he just wants to watch after a friend. 

Tenebe gives you both directions to her suite and a crudely drawn map in case you two get lost and is turning back out of room before you know it. Faelia flops on the bed, of which there is only one of, as you just realized.

“I _cannot_ believe she did this!”

“did what, put us in the same room?” you sit beside her and pull your bag up into your lap.

“Ladore thinks we are dating and although Tenebe _knows_ we’ve only just met, she’s stuck us in the same block with one bed.” You think from what you’ve seen from Tenebe thus far that Faelia’s assumption is probably not far off. She rolls over and pushes herself up on her elbows.

“ She likes to cause problems and laugh at the results; and she thinks it's her job to be annoying about my other quadrants. If this makes you feel awkward, I’ll bother Tenebe until she gets us a portable sleeping platform. Or I can just sleep on the ground?” You shake your head.

“It’s cool, besides, it’d be better if I slept on the ground, trolls aren’t really used to sleeping outside of sopor but pretty much all humans have slept somewhere weird a couple of times.” She smiles at you.

“How so? What are your experiences with odd sleeping arrangements?” You start to count off on your fingers.

“ The time I fell asleep in my grandma’s woodshed, the time I slept in a meditation class while sitting upright, the time I slept floating in a pool and the time I slept on the sidewalk outside my elementary school.” She giggles and you can’t help but laugh with her, the way her face lights up- it’s infectious.

You both change and ahower, Faelia pulls out her husktop and declares that you have to experience Alternian media.

“OH! This is one of my favorites! “ _In Which a Highblood Orchestrates A Ball For the Right to Court Him And A Young Lowblood Disguised As A Midblood Catches his eye. She Earns His Favor But Is Nearly Killed By Her Abusive Lusus And Her Lusus’ Other Two Charges Of a Higher Caste Than Her And Ends Up Waxing Pale For One Of Said Girls That Is Significantly Less Cruel._ ” Goddamn. You have no Idea what your in for…

90 minutes later and you have long since realized that you watched Troll Cinderella.

You convey this to Faelia, but she has already fallen asleep, you slide down into bed and curl up under the blanket. Normally, you hate heavy blankets, always makes you too warm, but with Faelia cooling down the bed, it's surprisingly comfy. You wonder if it be weird to put your arm around her, you are too tired to really think that much about it, so you just go to sleep. 


	9. Restless Wriggler Rescue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ten takes Fae and Jana out on a mission to rescue a scared kid

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> double update p2 fellas

YOUR entire body is hot, far hotter than it is supposed to be, you realize that this is likely due the very warm human currently holding on to you. You are unsure of whether to thank or curse Tenebe more for the sleeping arrangements. You hope your horns didn’t bother her, human skin is so fragile, you are constantly worried you will hurt them with the lightest touch. She starts to stir, and you shut your eyes again. Jana yawns and slips her arm off of you, she mumbles something too quiet for you to hear and slips out of the bed. As soon as you here the bathroom door open and close, you sit up. You remember watching a wriggler movie last day, but you can’t recall when you fell asleep. Your palmhusk buzzes with Tenebe’s familiar ring tone and you answer it.

“Jegus Fae, finally. You are such a heavy sleeper. I came and knocked twice!” You grin into the device.

“And you have always been an early riser”

“Yeah, well, things to do, people to save, thems the breaks”

“So, why are you so keen on waking me up right now?” Tenebe pauses for a moment and you know she’s about to ask you to help with something.

“We’ve got a wriggler loose with a dead lusus, I’ve sent three people out to get the kid but they’ve got some sort of psychic shit going on. We have reason to believe it won’t work on humans, though.” Your eyes go wide

“Tenebe, no, Jana isn’t capable of defending herself against a troll! Humans rarely carry weapons, you can’t be-“

“Fae- shit, listen, I wouldn’t send her in without a weapon, gog, but the kids young enough to not be life threatening, even to humans. An I’m pretty sure she’s scared, not aggressive” You bit your lip. You know a lot of young psychics have problems using their abilities on highbloods and humans, curiously enough. But that doesn’t mean you like the idea of sending an unexperienced alien woman to deal with a wriggler. Then again, humans re better with children than most trolls… It couldn’t hurt to ask, right?

“I’m coming with her if she agrees”

“I figured as much, stop by my office after morning meal to give me the verdict.” She hangs up on you immediately after. Your moirail is a pain in the ass.

YOU exit the shower and try desperately to figure out how the damned thing operates Faelia turned it on last night and you were _certain_ you could repeat the action but fuck it. You give up and wrap a towel around yourself, you need help.

“Faelia I can’t figure out the- shower?” She’s looking at you with a nervous ‘I don’t want to tell you something’ expression, you hate those expressions.

“Tenebe needs help rescuing a psychic wriggler and we need your help.” You thought you were gonna have to prod her for information but it looks like she wanted to just rip off the Band-Aid.

“Oh, ok sure” She looks a little surprised.

“Are you certain? It may be a bit dangerous” You shrug.

“it’s a kid, right? They’re probably just scared and untrusting, maybe I can help with that” She smiles at you and stands up.

“Now what were you saying about the ablution trap?”

Faelia shows you how the damn thing works and politely suggests figuring out how to use something _before_ you undress. She leaves you smirking to yourself a few moments later. The shower is overly complicated for sure, but it _is_ warm and the water pressure is fucking glorious, so you maybe stay in there a tad longer than necessary.

When you return from the bathroom, Faelia has set a plate of food out for you, her own plate is cleaned off and she sits on the bed reading a book you don’t recognize.

“Sorry for taking forever” She doesn’t look up from the book but responds in a positive tone.

“it’s fine, I took the liberty of getting us both breakfast” you thank her and pop the food into the kitchenette microwave.

It takes Tenebe two hours to get shit ready for the mission. You ask about three thousand questions

“So, why me, instead of someone with a little more experience?”

Adult trolls release pheromones that tend to scare wrigglers, except some jades, so it’s unreliable,”

“Aren’t there other humans in the base?”

“definitely, but _they_ work here, you’re just a visitor and thus have no pending responsibilities,”

“What do I even say to the kid, I can’t speak Alternian and I doubt they speak English?”

“We’ll equip you with an auto translator, and I thought you were semi fluent?”

“Only literally, I can read and write it kinda but not speak it, also didn’t you say they lived under water? How’s THAT gonna work?”

“False gills and an underwater breathing apparatus. Gills to filter the water, apparatus to pump it into your mouth.”

“They how do I talk to-“ Tenebe spins around and her eyes latch onto Faelia.

“Fae, I am _begging_ you, shut her up, if she keeps flapping her maw, I am going to loose my mind” Faelia lets out a chittery laugh and pats your arm.

“I’ll answer you questions once we are in the air and out of Tenny’s earshot,”

“You have the patience of Signless himself, Fae,” You find yourself red in the face, embarrassed and still filled with more obnoxious questions…

YOU have already drank three water bottles thus far. Jana keeps you talking for the first half of the ride, you’d have said no out right if you’d known that you’d be in for an 8 hour flight in one of Tenebe’s high-altitude vehicles. You asked why you couldn’t just take a hover vehicle (MUCH closer to the ground, you added) but apparently some seadwellers shot their hover vehicles the last time they were out by the coast, so she takes the bigger, high flying, vehicles instead.

That doesn’t make you less nervous, though. Space travel was one thing, but air travel? Trolls had mastered space before air due to helmsmen, air travel had only been around for scarcely 100 sweeps. Logically, you know that if you _were_ to be shot, Tenebe would be more than capable of lowering you to the ground safely with her Psiionics. You do envy earth, though, human airplanes didn’t shake so much, you don’t know how Jana can sleep through all that racket it makes. She mumbled something about “Sleeping on school buses” being way worse, but you have a hard time believing that, you think it’s just more of her supposed ability to sleep in strange locations.

When you arrive, you are the first off the ship, you want to throw yourself to the ground and declare that you’ll never leave it again, but decide to forego the dramatics in exchange fore pointed look at Tenebe when she asks how you like the flight.

Jana blearily stands up, stretches and yawns.

“She _slept_ through that?” You shrug and Jana smiles, still drowsy as she speaks.

“I swear, all you trolls are light sleepers, that was _maybe_ a long car ride worth of comfortability, it’s not like I was sleeping on a running washer or something,” The washer reference is lost on the other trolls, but you find it funny and tell her so. Even though that kinda defeats the purpose it but oh well.

It’s a fifteen minute hike to the shore, apparently, Tenebe didn’t want to risk flying too close to the “Territorial fish bastards” you think her reasoning is solid enough.

To your surprise, Jana not only keeps up, she is at the head of your group with Tenebe. It’s not a shock that even you and Tenebe’s troops are behind her, she has always been more athletic than normal, she’d out run any highblood in a race. She likes to call it her “survival tactics: can’t kill what you can’t catch”; which is both hilarious and sadly true.

Jana, on the other hand, is a human, most of whom (that you’ve met) are not even up to your lack-luster athleticism. You jog for a moment to catch up and ask her about it,

“Jana, I hope this isn’t rude, but how in the hell are you keeping such good pace with Tenebe?” She smiles as you attempt to catch your breathe, they really do walk faster than you, damn tall people.

“I used to go on hikes with my aunts all the time! That plus upkeep and gardening around my property keeps me pretty active, it’s a hell of a job but me doing it is cheaper than hiring someone.” Oh, that makes sense, actually, you forget that Jana literally lives in the middle of the woods, it’s probably a royal pain to keep everything as nice as the pictures she’s shown you.

Tenebe’s interest is piqued by Jana’s active life and she starts chatting her up. Staying next to them is taking too much out of you, though, so you fall back next to the rest of Tenebe’s team, all of whom are struggling under their armor. This is boring, you're bored, time to zone out for a while... 


End file.
